Some thoughts from our founder.

There is a notebook I bought when I was fifteen. I had just started my first job and on payday I would bus into town after school to spend it at the local bookstore. I never purchased anything practical, it was always another notebook to add to my collection.

The one I remember most is a soft sage green, fabric covered, with translucent sequins stitched in straight rows and a silk ribbon that ties around a small decorative clasp. I still remember the feeling of seeing it for the first time. I didn't look inside. I didn't need to. I just knew it had to be mine.

That was twenty three years ago. Some things you just keep.

I lost sight of this obsession for quite some time. It wasn't until I went through a box of old diaries and planners that it came back to me. What I found were pages I had never touched, goal-setting sections, budget trackers, habit logs, all blank. Wasted space dressed up as structure. And on the rare occasion I had written a goal down, there was guilt too. The quiet kind. An unmet deadline I had set for myself in January, long forgotten by March.

Dear Joe began as a question: what would stationery look like if you removed everything that didn't need to be there, and kept only what was worth keeping?

This is what we are building. Slowly, and well.

~ Erin.